Foldable packing bag



April 7, 1970 J. BRAMSON 3,504,841

' FOLDABLE PACKING BAG Filed July 25, 1968 E! Lb United States Patent3,504,841 F OLDABLE PACKING BAG Joseph Bramson, Burg. SJacoblaan 24,Bussum, Netherlands Filed July 23, 1968, Ser. No. 746,850 Claimspriority, application Girmany, Aug. 16, 1967,

Int. (:1. B65d 33/06 U.S. Cl. 229-22 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION French Patent 1,309,549 discloses a foldablepacking bag made of paper or a similar flexible material, and intendedto be used for packing textile goods, such as suits and the like. Thisbag has two flat side walls which are directly connected at their upperedges. At the lower edges, the side walls are interconnected by means ofa foldable strip of material forming a substantially flat bottom when itis unfolded. The bag is closed at one of the lateral ends, and has anopening at its other lateral end. This opening may be closed by means ofa closing flap attached to one of the side walls, which is provided witha self-adhering layer, and which may be folded back around the openingand stuck to the outer surface of the other side wall.

This known packing bag has the disadvantage that it is composed of aplurality of separate parts; in particular, the bottom of the bag andthe lateral side wall remote from the opening consist of separatestrips, whereby the manufacture of the bag is complicated and expensive.

The invention has the object to remove this disadvantage and to providea packing bag of the above-mentioned kind, of which the construction isconsiderably simpler, so that it may be mechanically produced in aneasy, rapid and nonexpensive way.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention the foldable bottomof the bag consists of extensions of the two side walls at the lowerends thereof, which have been folded to the inside and stuck to eachother along the folding line.

Thus, the bottom of the bag is not made of a separate strip of material,but the material of the side walls is extended by several inches inexcess of the required height, so that the two extensions, each integralwith the associated side wall, may be folded to the inside and stucktogether at their free edges.

In order that the edges of the extensions may be readily stuck togetherand that a good folding line may be obtained in the middle of thebottom, it is desirable that the extension of one side wall is somewhatlonger than the extension of the other side wall, so that an excessiveportion of this extension is obtained on one side. This excessiveportion may be folded back with respect to the remaining portion of thesame extension and stuck to the edge of the extension of the other sidewall.

3,504,841 Patented Apr. 7, 1970 The production of the bag may be furthersimplified, if the closing flap is in integral with the side wall ofwhich it forms an extension.

In order to facilitate the production of the bag, to avoid cut outs inthe material, to facilitate the folding of the material and to preventtearing, it is preferable that the folded extension of the side wallprovided with the closing flap extends to the end of the closing flap.Upon application of the self-adhering layer required for closing thebag, the extension is then stuck together with the closing flap. Thishas the advantage that the bag is held closed to some extent before use.On the other hand, there is the disadvantage that the material of theextension intended to form one half of the bottom must be separated fromthe portion stuck to the closing flap in order to unfold the bottom whenthe bag is put into use. If the two portions of the extension have to betorn loose from each other, the material of the bag may be damaged;moreover, the tearing is not always easily done. For this reason, it ispreferred to provide a vertical scoring line or perforation in theextension, so that the portion to be used for the formation of thebottom may be torn loose without difficulties from the portion stuck tothe closing flap.

Instead of providing a scoring line or a perforation to facilitate theseparation of the two portions of the extension, it would also bepossible to make a cut in the material at the location in question.However, the material of the bag would be weakened thereby to a greaterextent, so that the danger of damage during the production of the bagwould increase.

Theoretically, it would be possible to avoid an adherence of the endportion of the extension to the closing flap by cutting out the squareend portion of the extension, so that the same does not attain the endof the closing flap any more. However, such a cut out would complicatethe preparation of the material and make it more difficult to guide theweb of material through the machine, whereby the chance of tearing wouldincrease. Experiments have shown that the abovedescribed construction ispreferable from the point of view of production.

The fact that the end portion of the extension adheres to the lower endof the closing flap provides the additional advantage that the lowercorner of the closing flap is reinforced.

In connection with the above-mentioned constructive features it ispossible and very useful for a simpler mechanical production toconstruct the bag in such manner that the two side walls, the twoextensions forming the bottom and the closing flap are made of a singleintegral sheet of the material which is folded at the closed lateral endof the bag, after which the two halves of the sheet are stuck togetherdirectly at the upper edges and by means of the folded extensions at thelower edges.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of an integralsheet from which a bag according to the invention is made.

FIG. 2 shows the same sheet in a further phase of the production.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the bag in closed condition.

FIG. 4 is a cross-section taken on line IVIV in FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. 1, the reference numeral1 indicates an integral sheet of paper for the formation of thepreferred embodiment of the packing bag. The several portions of thissheet constitute the elements of the bag in the following manner.

Portion 2 becomes the side wall of the bag visible in FIG. 3 and portion3 becomes the other side wall. Portion 3 is extended at the upper edgeto form a strip 4. Upon production of the bag, the strip 4 is foldeddownwardly as shown in FIG. 2 and provided with an adhering layer, afterwhich the upper edge of portion 2 is stuck to the strip 4 (the portions2 and 3 being folded together along the folded line 5), so that the twoside walls are directly interconnected at the upper edges.

Portion 6 is one of the halves of the foldable bottom of the bag andportion 7 is the other half. As appears from FIG. 1 portion 2 isprovided at the bottom with a single extension 6 and portion 3 has acorresponding extension 7 and an additional extension 8. When foldingthe bag the extensions 6 and 7 are folded upwardly along the line 9 andthe strip 8 is folded to the inside and provided with an adhesive layeras shown in FIG. 2. Thereafter, the upper edge of the extension 6 isstuck to the strip 8 (after portions 2 and 3 have been folded togetheralong line 5), so that the two side Walls are interconnected by afoldable strip of material forming a substantially flat bottom whenunfolded as shown in FIG. 4.

It will be clear that the bag obtained in this manner is completelyclosed at one of the lateral ends, because the two side walls areintegral at this end and only separated by the folding line 5.

However, at the other lateral end of the bag the side walls are onlyinterconnected at the top and at the bottom so that a fully accessibleopening is formed between the side Walls.

To close this opening after a suit or a similar textile product has beenput into the bag one of the side walls is provided with a lateralextension to be used as a closing flap. In the embodiment as shown, thisclosing flap is formed by portion 10 of the sheet 1 (FIG. 1), which isan extension of side wall 3. The closing flap is folded back along thefolding line 11 when the bag is to be closed and stuck to the outersurface of side wall 2. The closed condition of the bag is shown in FIG.3.

In order to facilitate the attachment of the closing flap 10 to sidewall 2, a self-adhering layer 12 is applied to the closing fiap 10. Ifdesired, a similar layer may be applied to the outer surface of sidewall 2.

During the production of the bag, the end portion 13 of strip 7, whichextends up to the edge of flap 10, is stuck to the adjoining bottom partof flap 10 when the selfadhering layer 12 is applied. Thereby, the bagis kept closed to some extent as long as the bag is not in use. On theother hand, when the bag is put into use the bottom is prevented fromunfolding, because the end portion 13 of strip 7 is attached to thelower portion of flap 10. It is, therefore, necessary to separate thepart of strip 7 which is to be unfolded from the end portion 13 adheringto flap 10. In order to facilitate the separation, a vertical scoringline or perforation 14 has been provided at the end of the side walls,so that the two portions of strip 7 may be separated from each otherWithout damaging or tearing the material of the bag.

In order to carry the bag, a handle 15 has been provided in the middleof the interconnected upper edges of side Walls 2 and 3.

As long as the bag is not in use, the strips 6 and 7 constituting thebottom are folded together and the Walls 2 and 3 lie against each otherthrough a substantial portion of their surfaces. During use, the bag hasa substantially triangular cross-section as appears from FIG. 4.

It will be clear that the bag according to the invention may be producedrapidly and cheaply in a very simple manner by means of an automaticmechanical process.

I claim:

1. A foldable packing bag made from a single sheet of flexible material,comprising two side walls having a predetermined height, and beinginterconnected along their top edges and foldably interconnected alongone pair of corresponding side edges; a carrying handle centrallyattached to the said interconnected top edges; and a closing flapattached to one of the said side walls, provided with a self-adheringlayer, and adapted to be folded back and stuck to the outer surface ofthe other side wall to close the opening between the other pair ofcorresponding side edges of the said side walls; each of the said sidewalls being provided at its lower edge with an extension in excess ofsaid predetermined height, said extensions being folded inwardly andinterconnected along their free edges so as to form a foldableconnecting strip convertible into a fiat bottom by unfolding, theextension of one of the side walls being higher than the extension ofthe other side wall, the excessive portion of said first-mentionedextension being folded back and stuck to the free edge of saidlast-mentioned extension.

2. A foldable packing bag as claimed in claim 1 wherein the extension ofthe side wall to which said closing flap is attached extends to the endof said closing flap and is stuck to the same, a vertical weakening linebeing provided in said extension, along which the portion of thisextension used to form the bottom of the bag may be separated from theportion adhering to the closing flap.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 257,137 4/1964 Netherlands.

DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 22954

